Battle Against Arizona Immigration Law SB1070 Continues

The legal battle against Arizona’s harsh SB 1070 immigration law will continue in 2013 although the future of the section of the measure prohibiting housing or transporting undocumented immigrants is on the verge of being settled.

It is expected that the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals will issue a ruling soon on this section of the law.

“These two parts of SB1070 were not considered by the U.S. Supreme Court justices when they issued their ruling (upholding much of the Arizona law),” Alessandra Soler, the executive director of the ACLU of Arizona, told Efe on Thursday.

She said that this section was in force from July 2010 up to September 2012, when U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton blocked it in response to a suit filed by the ACLU and other organizations.

Soler said that this section makes it a crime for any person to transport undocumented immigrants.

“We, as plaintiffs, are representing those who transport people all day, and they don’t know if the people have documents or not,” she said.

The activist warned that if this section of the law enters into force it would have serious consequences since it would sanction people such as transportation workers and others for the simple act of doing their jobs.

The main defender of SB1070, Gov. Jan Brewer, appealed Bolton’s decision and asked the 9th Circuit to overturn it.

Both the Mexican and U.S. governments asked the appellate court to reject Arizona’s motion.

“The legal battle against SB1070 is definitely continuing, not only with this regulation, but we’re also expecting a decision by the Supreme Court on day laborers, and we’ll continue documenting abuses under Subsection 2(b),” she said.

Subsection 2(b), also known as the “show me your papers” provision, requires state and local law enforcement officers to question the immigration status of people “they suspect” are in the country illegally.

The ACLU has documented approximately a dozen cases of people who claim they have been the victims of racial profiling under Subsection 2(b).